“Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one’s definition of your life; define yourself.”
―
The duality of Knowledge
As you may already know from previous entries, I was bullied for a copious amount of reasons, both in and out of my family. Interestingly enough, it was always because of my intelligence and my willingness to learn new things. Moreover, I got most of the bullying from my family – mostly my cousins – because they were more determined to change me into something they can approve of. The key thing they wanted me to change was my passion for knowledge i.e. me being a bookworm. Reflecting on this gave me an interesting premise for Knowledge Flaunted.
Now, I’ve never been one for flaunting my knowledge. I’m capable of acknowledging my shortcomings and love to learn new things as long as they, of course, interest me. I also try my hardest not to make other people look, or feel, dumb because of The Golden Rule. You know…”treat people the way you want to be treated.” However, I really don’t like it when smart people try to tear down people and make it seem like they’re the smartest in the room. I have been guilty of that in my younger years (I think I was a senior in high school) and it took a major shot to my ego to make me see sense. I had to learn that I’m not the smartest person in the world.
But, going back to my cousins, they never liked me for me. But, contradictory to their disdain of me, they had a habit of requesting to utilize the very thing they want to make me feel bad about. They wanted me to tutor them or guide them and I would quickly – and happily – say “No!” Of course, I would be chastised about it and my aunts and uncles would try to gaslight while invalidating my feelings. But I would always double down and make it clear that I will be offering my services to people who don’t value or deserve them. A constant headache of a cycle, if there ever was one.
Anyway, as I continued to reflect on my cousin’s and foes’ treatment of my intelligence, I began to realize something. I began to keep my intelligence to myself. Not dumbing myself down. Never that. I learned my lesson back in my middle years. No, what I was doing was keeping quiet about my intelligence and how to say something when it was necessary. Admittingly, later in life, I used my intelligence to put “know-it-all” smartasses in their place. I hate when people think they have the right to devalue people because of their difference in intelligence. But, strangely, over the years, I began to realize that I was separating myself from my mind and becoming cold in the process. I mean really cold. Like giving quick knowledge and then walking away. I don’t gloat, comment, or even acknowledge it and, eventually, it was brought to my attention.
So, looking back to that road in my life in accepting what I worked so hard to acquire, I decided to reflect that same feeling I had into the world I was creating for this short story. I wanted to make the world as cold as I was with my intelligence. I also did a little something with the characters in the story but I don’t want to spoil anything. Besides, I like to see if my readers can figure out what I’m conveying to them in my work. and this is no different. I wonder how many people can figure what I did and how I did it. It would be fun. And, with that, I hope you enjoy the story.
You can buy the book on Amazon. The link is here.
You can also learn about it on Goodreads. The link for it is here.
